Academy
The Craig Bellamy Foundation runs Sierra Leone’s only professional football academy. Operated on a not-for-profit basis, we offer children the opportunity to reach their true potential by nurturing their sporting and academic excellence.
The Academy is a fully residential international school and boasts the country’s best full-size grass football pitch. Our 15-acre site in Tombo, Sierra Leone’s largest fishing village, is surrounded by lush green mountains overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Our Approach
Five year scholarships are awarded to children aged 11 to 13 who are selected from an extensive national recruitment process, ensuring that children from across Sierra Leone are afforded the same opportunity to make their dreams come true.
The Academy aims to create a stable and positive environment to encourage development in three core areas – athletic, academic and personal – with each given an equal focus.
Athletic
Our football development programme involves U-12 to U-17 teams and training sessions. Led by a team of internationally qualified staff, recruits are exposed to a range of coaching techniques reflecting the individual needs of each player.
Players are also given the opportunity to compete in international tournaments as well as training with some of the world’s leading football clubs.
Academic
Our education programme combines local and international curriculum to cover the diversity of pupils’ academic abilities and their cultural and religious backgrounds.
Academy recruits undergo tests so that our qualified and experienced staff – from both Sierra Leone and the West – can create a programme tailored to their individual needs.
Core subjects taught are English, Mathematics and Science, culminating in pupils sitting IGCSE examinations – the international version of the British GCSE.
Personal
Our personal support programme aims to support pupils to achieve their true potential, make positive choices and empower them to influence their peers.
We encourage pupils to see the value of re-investing their talents and good fortune into their local communities. Our emphasis is that they should achieve success but also to help others to gain similar opportunities to those afforded to them.
Graduate Pathways
Football
Through the Foundation’s extensive links in professional football, we seek to offer those boys who demonstrate the necessary skills and commitment, the opportunity to further their football careers by helping them to secure professional football contracts at the end of their academy scholarship.
We will also look to prepare these boys for life as a professional through a programme of life skills classes that ranges from managing personal finances to adapting to a different culture.
Further Education
Students who excel academically are offered the chance to continue their education through our links with schools and colleges in the UK and US. Those selected will study at some of the best academic institutions available, opening the door to endless possibilities.
We are committed not only to developing Sierra Leone’s next generation of top sporting talents, but also the leaders of tomorrow in the fields of medicine, law, governance and many more areas.
Vocational
Students will also be given the opportunity to gain valuable vocational skills during their time at the academy which will prepare them for life here in Sierra Leone as well as abroad.
This will ensure that they are prepared to be positive role models within their communities and help to develop Sierra Leone from home, leading the country towards a bright future.
